Tire Business
Best Places to Work: Trail Tire’s ‘thriving culture’ grows success
By: KATHY MCCARRON
EDMONTON, Alberta —Trail Tire Group’s focus on employee empowerment and communication helped the Edmonton-based dealership become a finalist in Tire Business‘ Best Places to Work survey.
Trail Tire Group includes Trail Tire Auto Centers, with 35 corporate and 28 associate stores in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan; Trail Tire Supply, the wholesale operation with six distribution centers across western Canada; and Tiremotive, a network of 42 independent automotive service shops operating under the Tiremotive banner.
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The company has more than 200 employees — including 60 in Calgary and about 65 in Alberta in retail operations, while the distribution operation has about 80 employees.
“A thriving workplace culture is our top priority. We know that creating a welcoming atmosphere is pivotal to our employees’ success. From the moment individuals join our team, we make it our mission to ensure they feel valued, supported and heard,” the company said.
“We believe that open communication is essential for a harmonious work environment. We encourage dialogue at all levels, fostering an environment where every employee feels empowered to share their ideas and concerns.
“We believe that a healthy work-life balance is essential for productivity and happiness. We empower our team members with the autonomy to tailor their daily work experiences to accommodate their individual needs, ensuring they can thrive both personally and professionally.”

Trail Tire employees at a wine tasting.
The company said it tries to foster interpersonal connections among it employees by hosting monthly employee luncheons, retreats, an annual meeting and other activities.
“The biggest thing is we’re family-owned and -operated,” said Vice President James O’Reilly, who co-owns the dealership with his partners, President Allen Ambrosie, Brad Kirk and Carey Blaskin.
One is the fourth generation and the others are the second generation in their families to be in the tire industry, O’Reilly said.
“So we have a very long history in the tire business, whether it’s retail or wholesale, and that’s one of the biggest attributes to our business as Trail Tire — the relationships that we have with our customers.
“An old-school handshake deal means a lot to us, and our customers know that and that’s part of the reason why we are where we are is because of our people and our customers,” he said.

Trail Tire held its annual general meeting for sales and leadership teams in Cancun, Mexico, in February.
ABOUT TIRE BUSINESS’ BEST PLACES TO WORK
The Tire Business’ Best Places to Work survey, in its fifth year, recognizes the best employers the tire and automotive service industries have to offer.
For the survey, Tire Business partners with Workforce Research Group — an independent research firm specializing in identifying and recognizing great places to work.
In order to participate, a business must:
• Be a retail, commercial, OTR, retread or wholesale tire dealership (publicly or privately held);
• Have a minimum of 15 full- or part-time permanent employees; and
• Be in business a minimum of one year.
Among companies eligible are online tire businesses, franchised tire businesses, mass merchandisers with tire stores and wholesale clubs that sell tires.
Not eligible are tire importers; tire manufacturer-owned retail or commercial tire stores; private-brand tire companies; and aftermarket businesses that do not sell tires.
Both the employer and employees are asked to complete separate surveys about the business, which is then scored. Companies that receive scores above the threshold set by Workforce Research Group are named a Best Place to Work, and the highest scoring company is named the overall winner.
More information can be found at tbbestplacestowork.com.
O’Reilly said Trail Tire offers competitive wages for its market, but he thinks the paycheck is just one factor why employees stay with the company, resulting in a low turnover rate.
The company offers retirement savings plan contributions, medical benefits, training, tuition reimbursement and flexible work schedules to provide a positive work-life balance.
“So it’s not all about the bottom dollar, it is all the other attributes that come with being an employee at Trail Tire. It doesn’t necessarily always come down to a wage, it’s everything else that comes into it,” O’Reilly said.
The company said it fosters a work-life balance by offering schedule flexibility so employees can attend to family needs, such as children’s school events and medical appointments. Employees are encouraged to limit the checking of email and voicemail outside of work hours and are required to take time off; and staff meetings and events are only held during business hours.
O’Reilly said he agrees that the dealership is a “best place to work” because “we invest in people. We have a very good team because of our people and we invest in them, whether it’s through leadership training, whether it’s through promoting, whether it’s through just spending extra time to hear what their goals and aspirations are.”
He said several employees started out in entry-level jobs, received training or went back to school, and then have moved up through the company.
“When I speak of investing in our people, it gives them room to grow within the company or we’ve had people move from retail into wholesale and try a different career in the tire business. The biggest thing is when people work for us, they can see that there is opportunity for themselves to advance. If they work hard, there’s good opportunities,” he said.

Trail Tire employs more than 200 in retail and wholesale.
COMMUNICATION
O’Reilly said being a medium-sized company enables it to empower its employees and promote communication across all levels of management.
“The biggest thing is the fact that we’re able to adapt quickly and there are no levels within our company. So anybody at all times can reach out to one of the ownership and have a conversation. We don’t believe in levels — you can’t talk to this person because you’re not a director or you’re not a senior manager.
“Any level of any employee within the company can reach out to any manager, whether it’s a good idea or whether it’s a conversation they need to have. That’s something we take a lot of pride in.”
The owners and managers make a point of learning employees’ names and to tour all the locations and have conversations with the staff.
“I think our employees take away a lot from that and know they can reach out to somebody if needed,” O’Reilly said.
That empowerment and communication goes toward bringing new employees into the company with the intention that they will pursue a career at the dealership.
“On the retail side, we empower our managers to hire and explain the vision of the company and what their expectations and vision is for that employee. That has worked out very well,” O’Reilly said.
“On the distribution side, we just have a conversation, we explain who we are and where our direction is going and then we ask the employee if they see that as a fit and what their long-term plans are.
“We definitely don’t like hiring people who don’t want to be around for a long time or they’re looking to fill a stop-gap. We’ve turned down some talent because we don’t think they’re going to be part of the strategy long-term.”
O’Reilly added: “There a lot of accountability there but at the same time there’s accountability on the company to make sure we follow through on the expectations of the employees.”

Trail Tire Supply hosts monthly luncheons for its employees.
TRAINING
Trail Tire takes advantage of training programs offered by the Tire Industry Association (TIA) as well as by its suppliers, including lunch-and-learns so employees can hear about new products or trends; monthly online training on mechanical services through NAPA; and management training.
Associate and corporate employees are eligible to participate in the online NAPA training. O’Reilly said the training attracts about 100 people and he sees it as an added value for the dealers.
“The goal is to have at least one employee from each of our dealers attending,” he said.
Earlier this year the company began its TREAD (Trail Resources for Education, Advancement and Development) leadership training program, which involves John Maxwell Co. virtual classes with live instructors. The dealership brought in a consultant to create the in-house training program, O’Reilly said.
The dealership also provides tuition reimbursement for post-graduate degrees, business workshops, professional certification and work-related courses.
Trail Tire works with Northern Alberta Institute of Technology and Southern Alberta Institute of Technology to foster future technicians with apprenticeships. Associate stores also work with their local colleges to source future techs and to send employees for additional training, O’Reilly said.

Trail Tire has more than 60 retail stores in Western Canada.
GROWTH PLANS
Trail Tire is growing across Western Canada but it has not set a goal or deadline to reach a certain number of locations or markets.
“We’re not in any hurry at all to impress a manufacturer or a competitor by how many dots we have on the map,” O’Reilly said, “so the only way we grow is if it makes sense. If we don’t sign somebody for a few months, we’re not at all worried about it. …”
“We continue to sign associates. They need to be the right partners and fit for both sides and a fit for the group. Our corporate stores, we’re always looking for a proper partnership, whether it’s a dealer that’s selling or a greenfield operation. We’re always looking for opportunities for strategic growth if it makes sense for the company and the direction that we’re going.”
So far this year the company has signed up six associate locations, the most recent of which being Smart Auto & Tire in Airdrie, Alberta.
“We’re going to continue to grow, whether it’s wholesale or retail, where it makes sense and continue to listen to feedback from employees and making further investments in training where it makes sense. Feedback is always a gift and we’re open ears with any of our owners to listen to feedback with staff,” he said.